Tk5.31b financing for rawhide purchase during Eid

Three state-owned commercial banks (SCBs) have planned to disburse Tk 5.31 billion in loan to the rawhide traders for purchasing skins of sacrificial animals during Eid-ul-Azha to be celebrated in the country on 22 August.

“Like every year, we will provide loan to rawhide traders for buying skins of sacrificial animals as the rawhide collected during the Eid-ul-Azha cater much of Bangladesh’s demand for leather,” managing director and chief executive officer of the Rupali Bank Limited M Ataur Rahman Prodhan told BSS in Dhaka on Sunday.

This year, he said his bank has already sanctioned Tk 1.75 billion for rawhide purchase. The credit facilities will be very helpful for rawhide traders to run smoothly their business, he added.

Talking to BSS, managing director and CEO of the Agrani Bank Limited Mohammad Shams-Ul Islam said his bank is giving its businesspeople clients Tk 1.46 billion for rawhide purchase this year. But defaulters will not be given any loan this year, he added.

He said the bank has already sanctioned the loan and the disbursement will start as per the demand of the rawhide traders.

A senior official of the Janata Bank Limited said Janata Bank has set a plan to provide Tk 2.10 billion loan to traders for rawhide purchase this year.

“But the disbursement of the loan will start after the Eid-ul-Azha as the traders will demand for the loan after purchasing the rawhide in due,” he added.

For Bangladesh, leather is a high priority industrial sector and footwear exports, an extreme focus area. Bangladesh has, just few decades since Independence, made significant gains from the leather trade, progressing from the status of an exporter of 90 per cent plus raw hides and skins to that of an exporter and predominantly leather product manufacturer.